Rwanda Road World Championships - Riders to watch in the elite women's individual time trial

The elite women's individual time trial will open the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday, September 21, in Kigali, Rwanda, marking the first time the event is held in Africa.

There will be 49 riders from 36 nations taking to the starting ramp located at the BK Arena in central Kigali. They will embark on a 31.2km race against the clock that finishes at the Kigali Convention Centre.

The elite women will tackle 460 metres of elevation along the course that includes three climbs; twice over the Côte de Nyanza with 2.5km at 5.8% on the way out and 4.1km at 3.1% on the way back toward the finish. They will then climb the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura, which is 1.3km at 6.3% and also used on the city circuits during the road races later in the week.

The reigning Olympic champion and last year's world champion in the individual time trial, Grace Brown of Australia, will not be participating in this event, having retired at the end of last season.

That opens the door to a host of riders to watch, some in contention for the rainbow jersey and some who will be representing their nation at this history-making event.

Marlen Reusser (Switzerland)

Marlen Reusser is the reigning Swiss time trial champion and has had a long history with this discipline at the World Championships. Although she earned three medals, two silver and one bronze, she has never won the world title.

She was forced to drop out of the event mid-race in 2023, as one of the top favourites, citing burnout at the end of the season, and she did not start the event in 2024 after a season marred by a crash at the Tour of Flanders and then COVID-19.

Reusser's track record in the individual time trial, on the whole, is remarkable, having finished in the top three of every single event she has finished in the last five years.

This will mark her first race since she was forced to abandon the Tour de France Femmes in July due to illness. However, prior to that race, she had a strong season, finishing second overall at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and the La Vuelta Feminine, before winning overall titles at Vuelta a Burgos, Tour de Suisse, and finishing second at the Giro d'Italia.

Chloé Dygert (United States)

Another individual time trial powerhouse, Chloé Dygert, is a former two-time world champion in the discipline, securing the rainbow jerseys in 2019 in Yorkshire and 2023 in Glasgow.

She appeared to be on her way to winning another time trial world title in Imola in 2020, but a horrific crash saw her go over the guard rail on a high-speed descent, and she suffered a serious leg injury.

In addition to her road cycling world titles, she is also an eight-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist in track racing.

Last year, Dygert secured the bronze medal at the Zürich Worlds and will be looking to reclaim the rainbow jersey in Kigali.

The course is hilly, but Dygert showed her strength in hilly time trials when she won her first elite world title in the discipline in Yorkshire.

Anna Henderson (Great Britain)

Anna Henderson has not cracked the top three in the individual time trial at the Worlds, but she is a two-time national champion and secured the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Paris last summer.

She hasn't had too many opportunities to compete in the time trial this year, but she was part of the winning team at the team time trial that opened the La Vuelta Femenina.

She was second at the British National Championships behind Zoe Backstedt, who is competing in the under-23 event in Kigali.

On another standout year, Henderson was sixth in the opening time trial at the Giro d'Italia, where she won stage 2 and wore the maglia rosa.

Xaverine Nirere (Rwanda)

As the host nation, the Rwandan national team will field three riders in the individual time trial led by national champion Xaverine Nirere.

The team will also include Diane Ingabire, runner-up in the national championships and who races for Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto Generation, and third place in the national championships, Violette Irakoze Neza, who races for Ridley.

Xaverine Nirere primarily competes in Africa, having won her nation's Heros Cycling Cup, and won a stage and finished second overall at the Migration Gravel Race. She secured two medals at the national championships and won the overall title at the Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Tour in Namibia.

Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands)

The Netherlands lines up with two potential podium contenders with former Tour de France winner Demi Vollering and former world champion Anna van der Breggen.

Vollering, who has not competed in a time trial this year, has always been a strong time trialist, but it has never truly been her main focus, tending to place her attention on being an all-rounder in the Classics and Grand Tours.

She has had some exceptional time trials, however, securing the silver medal at the Zurich Worlds and winning the time trial at the Tour de France last year. She was also second, behind her then trade teammate Reusser, in the final time trial at the 2023 Tour de France, where she won the yellow jersey.

Van der Breggen has secured five medals in the time trial and the world title in 2020 in Imola. She is also a two-time national champion in the discipline, but having only recently come out of a three-year retirement, she will be a dark horse for this event.

The only other time trial that she has competed in this year was at the Giro, where she finished fourth.

Cédrine Kerbaol and Juliette Labous (France)

French national champion, Cédrine Kerbaol, has earned her place at her third World Championships after a strong season where she finished eighth overall at the Tour de France.

Earlier in the season, she won the national title for the second time in her career, beating compatriot Juliette Labous.

Both riders are the strongest time trial list of their nation, with Labous finishing second in the national championships, but having represented France at the Paris Olympic Games, where she was just off the podium in fourth.

She has steadily worked on her time trial over the last five years and has finished three times in the top 10 at Worlds.

Antonia Niedermaier (Germany)

Antonia Niedermaier will represent Germany in the time trial as the national champion. She has competed in one other time trial this season at the Giro d'Italia, where she was fifth overall.

An all-rounder, Niedermaier excels in many areas of the sport, but she has proven her strength at previous world championships, finishing fourth last year and 11th the year before that in Glasgow.

This time trial course will cater to her climbing strengths, with three climbs to contest; this could end up being one of her best time trials.

Hermionne Ahouissou (Benin)

Two-time Benin national champion, Hermionne Ahouissou, lines up as one of the stronger time triallists in Africa.

She arrives at this world championships having just competed for her national team at the Maryland Cycling Classic in Baltimore, the first time an African national team has competed in a UCI event in the US.

Although she did not finish that race, it was undoubtedly a learning experience to test her legs against the combined national and international peloton at a high-level event.

Brodie Chapman (Australia)

Brodie Chapman has big shoes to fill, lining up as the defending nation in the worlds time trial, off the heels of Grace Brown's winning performance in Zurich last year. Chapman can certainly hold her own in a time trial, proving as much by winning the Australian national title in January.

Like many of the women racing in this event, she has only done two other time trials this year with her trade team on the European circuit. She knows what it means to win a world title, though, having been part of the national team that secured the gold medal in the mixed team relay last year.

She was also third in the time trial at the Giro and second in the time trial at the Thüringen Ladies Tour, seventh in the event at the Tour de Suisse, second in the time trial at the Vuelta Extremadura, and part of the team that won the opening team time trial at the Vuelta last year, all last year.

Aurelie Halbwachs (Mauritius)

Racing for Mauritius, Aurelie Halbwachs is the reigning time trial champion from the African Games, securing her gold medal last summer in Accra, Ghana, ahead of Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye of Nigeria and Lucy Young of South Africa.

Her compatriot Kim Le Court-Pienaar has put Mauritius on the map this summer, where she won a stage and wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.

Halbwasch will join Le Court-Pienaar in the mixed team relay and the elite women's road race later in the week.

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